Perkins calls Daniels' truce ‘astonishing’

By Gabriel Beltrone

06/10/10 03:10 PM EDT

Leading conservative Tony Perkins, president of anti-abortion group Family Research Council, is pushing back against Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels' suggestion that the next president might have to sideline controversial social issues to broker a “truce” focusing on fiscal problems.

From Perkin’s statement, which calls the idea “astonishing:”

“Not only is he noncommittal about his role as a pro-life leader, but the governor wouldn't even agree to a modest step like banning taxpayer-funded promotion of abortion overseas — which [former] President Bush did on his first day in office with 65% of the country's support. Let's face it. These aren't fringe issues that stretch moderate America. They're mainstream ideals that an overwhelming majority of the nation espouses. I support the governor 100% on the call for fiscal responsibility, but nothing is more fiscally responsible than ending the taxpayer funding of abortion and abortion promotion. More than 70% of our nation agrees that killing innocent unborn children with federal dollars is wrong. Yet stopping government-funded murder isn't a "genuine national emergency?" We cannot "save the republic," in Gov. Daniels' words, by killing the next generation. Regardless of what the establishment believes, fiscal and social conservatism have never been mutually exclusive. Without life, there is no pursuit of happiness. Thank goodness the Founding Fathers were not timid in their leadership; they understood that "truce" was nothing more than surrender. “